Jonette Francke doesn’t remember if it was a Barbie or a box of Legos that pushed her over the edge. All she knows is that at some point during her nonprofit’s annual adopt-a-family holiday gift drive a few years ago, her garage and house were so stuffed with toys she could hardly move an inch without hitting something. And that’s when she realized her system had to change.

“I would create piles in each corner of the garage for each family,” she said. “Wrap ‘em, tag ‘em with the name, make sure that each gift got to their house. (It) became a little insane.”

“I’m a working mom,” she added, and caught her breath.

So Francke, who for 18 years has helped manage the Lorene Foster Children’s Fund — which aids needy children in the Santee School District year-round and does a holiday gift drive for families — decided to stop asking for three-dimensional donations and start asking for gift cards.

Gift cards, some people sneer. They’re so impersonal.

Gift cards! some people squeal. They’re so flexible.

For nonprofits, those debatable qualities make gift cards a hassle-free pathway to holiday giving. So across San Diego this year, nonprofits are asking for gift cards alongside, and occasionally instead of, donations of toys and other goods.

Cards empower recipients and offer donors convenience, nonprofit directors said. They also reassure donors their money is going to a specific destination (unlike cash), and they cut out the risk of choosing a specific present for someone else.

“We got a lot of positive response from the parents about taking control about what goes under their Christmas tree. It’s win-win,” Francke said.

This mirrors a national trend.

“I have seen an uptick in giving and asking for gift cards,” said Michael Nilsen, a spokesman with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, a philanthropy support organization. “I think it’s an idea that’s spreading (and) a trend worth watching.”

Francke says that since her holiday drive stopped requesting toys in 2010, donation values have increased. “The value of the gifts went up. I think the quantity was probably about the same. Someone would donate a $25 gift card in a heartbeat versus a $9 Barbie.”

Gift cards are an increasingly popular holiday present and donation vehicle.

• In 2011, total gift card sale values in the U.S. topped $100 billion, according to financial research firm TowerGroup.

• Gift cards accounted for 18 percent of holiday gifts purchased in 2011, according to an International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs survey.

• Total charitable giving topped $298 billion last year, according to the Blackbaud Index, a charitable giving trend tracker.

It’s too soon to tell how this is affecting contributions this year, and gift cards are still just a fraction of overall donations to local charities, according to those surveyed. It’s also not clear if, on a large scale, gift card donations are detracting from other types of giving or actually expanding the pot.

Angelle Merrill hosted an adopt-a-family gift card drive at her fitness dance studio near Carmel Mountain, to support drives at her children’s’ schools. The response astounded her. “Many students who were not able to attend the party went out of their way to drop off gift cards or cash at the studio,” she wrote in an email.

Gift cards work best for teens, drive organizers said.

“Teenagers are really, really hard to buy for” and they like shopping for themselves, said Angela Brannon, executive director of It’s All About the Kids, a nonprofit that helps underprivileged children.

But gift cards come with several drawbacks. Transaction fees. Lost card replacement fees. Processing fees. All those leechy fees can eat into a card’s value. Cards are not immune to fraud. Also, research shows gift cards push people to overspend. (In California, at least, cards don’t have expiration dates.)

Francke was part of a group that started the fund to honor her mother, Lorene Foster, who died of cancer in 1994. She is taking a hybrid approach. At her family business, San Diego Wine Company, she and her husband recently hosted their annual “Gift Cards for Children” drive, which they paired with a discounted wine tasting. But they’re accepting toys, food and household items at donation bins in Santee schools as well.

She’ll be grateful for donations after Christmas, too — possibly launching a whole new trend.